Testimony lost in translation

WASHINGTON–Something
was being lost in translation. Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, a Saudi
national accused of war crimes and murder for his alleged role in the
Sept. 11 attacks, was speaking in Arabic.

Marine Col. Ralph Kohlmann, a military judge at Guantanamo Bay, was listening to a simultaneous interpretation in English.

At
a recent pretrial hearing, al-Hawsawi, according to his military
lawyer, wanted to discuss the potential responsibilities of his
attorneys and the implications of representing himself before the
military commission. Those in the courtroom, however, often heard
head-scratching sentences such as: "In the beginning of the timing of
the laws, I said there is no difficulties base."

A linguist
working with al-Hawsawi's team later estimated half of what the
defendant said was rendered incorrectly by court interpreters and that
al-Hawsawi didn't understand at least 25 per cent of what was said in
English.

As five key defendants charged in the 9/11 attacks –
including self-described mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed – move toward
a trial by jury, defence lawyers and human rights advocates charge that
the fairness of the most significant proceeding at Guantanamo Bay,
Cuba, is routinely undermined by incompetent interpretation.

"Regular
omissions, or mistranslations of key words or phrases often led to
disjointed, incomprehensible or misleading translations into both
English and Arabic," al-Hawsawi's attorneys wrote in a draft document
supporting a motion they filed asking to halt the case until qualified
interpreters are hired. The lawyers asked the court to order the
government to produce an Arabic transcript of each hearing – a motion
military prosecutors are resisting.

The Pentagon rejected charges
that interpreters at Guantanamo Bay are not qualified, but defence
department officials said they were instituting new controls to address
attorneys' concerns. Officials said only native speakers or
native-level speakers are hired and they are equal to interpreters used
in federal court. The interpreters are subject to in-house testing by
the Pentagon's contractor, based on state department standards, as well
as testing by an outside firm, officials said.

"We work hard to
provide the most qualified translators to do an important mission for
our nation," Joseph DellaVedova of the Office of Military Commissions
said in an email.

"Nevertheless, because of concerns expressed
by counsel – particularly regarding their ability to speak at normal
pacing – OMC is instituting an additional quality control system which
will enable us to pre-screen potential interpreters to assess their
skill level."

Defence lawyers and court observers said the
Guantanamo interpreters do not approach the standards for
interpretation in federal courts or in forums such as the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. "There is no
way someone who doesn't understand what's going on in court can get a
fair trial," said Maj. Jon Jackson, military counsel to al-Hawsawi.
"This is being done on the cheap."

In fact, the Guantanamo
interpreters are well paid, with some earning close to $150,000
annually plus benefits if they have the right security clearance to
work at the prison, according to one job offer seen by The Washington Post.

Identities
of Guantanamo interpreters are classified, and defence lawyers have
been unable to secure their resumés to examine their professional
backgrounds.

Jackson said defence lawyers have learned
informally that one interpreter was a former schoolteacher with no
prior experience in simultaneous court translation. Another interpreter
assigned to the defence team of alleged Sept. 11 conspirator Tawfiq bin
Attash announced after arriving at Guantanamo that he was unqualified,
said Edward MacMahon, a civilian attorney for Attash.

A judge
removed an interpreter in a separate proceeding at Guantanamo when the
words "Osama bin Laden's driver" were repeatedly interpreted as "Osama
bin Laden's lawyer."

In the case, in which the defence was
arguing to a jury that the defendant, former bin Laden driver Salim
Ahmed Hamdan, was a bit player in Al Qaeda, the mistake was deemed
significant enough for the judge to act.

Anthony Barkow,
executive director of the Center on the Administration of Criminal Law
at New York University, described the quality of interpretation at a
pretrial hearing as "ridiculous."

"I've never experienced a
situation where it was so obvious that no one understood what was being
said," said Barkow, a former federal prosecutor, who is observing the
9/11 proceedings at Guantanamo for Human Rights First, a New York-based
advocacy group.

The Administrative Office of the United States
Courts asserts on its website that the "professional knowledge, skills,
and abilities required of a federal court interpreter are highly
complex."

For languages other than Spanish, Navajo and
Haitian-Creole, for which there are certification programs, federal
courts prefer "professionally qualified interpreters," a standing that
requires demonstrated experience as an interpreter or employment
history with a U.S. agency, the United Nations or a similar
organization that requires taking an interpreter examination.

Nerma
Jelacic, a spokesperson for The Hague tribunal, said in an email that
requirements for interpreters at that court include "split-second
accuracy, clear and timely delivery, ability to perform under
continuous stress and to assimilate an exceedingly broad range of
subjects. Interpreters are expected not only to convey the message but
to communicate it as well; therefore, they have to ... sound natural
and convincing in the target language."